June is off to a great start with sunny and progressively warmer weather and lots of birds around. On the first I headed out to a variety of locations with my first stop at Mitch's Way with the main focus being warblers (highlight was a continued Mourning Warbler singing constantly and perhaps trying to breed in the area?). I then made the hike up Skinner SP to check on the Worm eating Warbler and Cerulean Warblers (among others). As I hiked back down the mountain I noticed a few messages about some shorebirds in the East Meadows so I made that location my next destination. Nothing extremely unusual but nice looks at a variety of shorebirds enjoying the flooded fields (thanks to our multiple days of rain). I had a total of five species of shorebirds plus an impressive showing of Chimney Swifts (with at least 65 individuals present). During the remainder of the morning I stopped at a number of locations and turned up even more species. During the evening at home I noticed a number of slightly late Common Nighthawks feeding over the house. There were at least seven around and probably more (likely slightly delayed by the poor weather conditions that closed out May)...the first day alone produced 107 species to kick off June.
On the second I stayed close to home with visits to Quabbin Park and Lake Wallace which produced more species including some great looks at breeding waterfowl including a small family of Common Mergansers at Winsor Dam which I got to watch swim across the entire length of the reservoir and got some fantastic looks of them (as well as some video)...links to videos below:
I also checked the active nests I have in the yard and both the Gray Catbirds and Eastern Bluebirds were freshly hatched. I was afraid the extended cold weather at the end of May might negatively impact them but they made it through to hatch.
Although the forecast today called for showers it actually stayed dry through a large portion of the day and allowed me to get quite a bit of birding/hiking in as I explored multiple locations in the area. I started off my morning at Lake Wallace where the highlight was a Common Nighthawk. No sign of nesting Pied billed Grebes this year but the town has dropped the water levels which has had a negative impact on marsh birds this year. I then headed over to Amherst and Hadley to finish out the early morning before heading back home to take Wilson for a walk. With the bad weather holding off I took the opportunity to take a long walk along the Mount Holyoke Range SP and had several Worm eating Warblers. In just the first three days of the month I have had 124 species in the county...not a bad start at all.
The forecast for the next several days looks to feature showers and thunderstorms overnight tonight through tomorrow with southerly winds before very hot and humid conditions arrive by the middle of the weekend and continue through a good portion of the next week leading to what looks to be our first heat wave.
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